Monday, May 22, 2017

"The Chariot of Michael" by Dorit Winter

Are you interested in doing additional anthroposophical reading as part of the research and preparation for your school year?

Dorit Winter's article "The Chariot of Michael" in And Who Shall Teach the Teachers? is full of references to Steiner's writings which specifically mention different main lesson topics. (This is not a be-all and end-all, since he was so prolific, but in her essay she shares excerpts from her personal collection of notes, gathered while she read his work.) Many of the lectures she mentions I had never heard of before! So I give this brief "cheat sheet" in case it piques your interest. If so, I strongly recommend that you read her article. The book is available as a free PDF from the Online Waldorf Library.

I've also included the links to buy his books, as well as online resources, where I could find them.


Grade One


Grade Two


Grade Three


Grade Four


Grade Five


Sixth Grade


Seventh Grade


Eighth Grade

    she makes reference to both biographies and current events, framing them as follows: "It takes perseverance to find the Rosicrucian heroes of our day. But they do exist, and it is a significant path of research to discover them. Through them the Christ Impulse lives, providing an antidote to the carnage of modern warfare, which is also part of the eighth grade curriculum."


Ninth Grade


Tenth Grade


Eleventh Grade


Twelfth Grade


Dorit Winter has a few concluding remarks, mostly turning her attention back to Steiner. Obviously, nobody says what he said better than he did! And that's why reading the original Steiner is so important. I believe this is really what she is trying to get us to do. Even the lengthy quotes she provides aren't as helpful as reading Steiner's thoughts in the original context.

However, I do believe that this quote from Education and Modern Spiritual Life sums up Steiner's entire educational premise:

    "For no education will develop from abstract principles or programs — it will develop only from reality. And because man himself is soul and spirit, because he has a physical nature, a soul nature and a spiritual nature, reality must again come into our life — for with the whole reality will the spirit also come into our life, and only such a spirit as this can sustain the educational art of the future."

And Winter ends her lecture with quoting him one last time:

    "This is a mighty and magnificent task, the task of providing the chariot for Michaël: Michaël needs, as it were, a chariot by means of which to enter our civilization . ...
    By educating in the right way, we are preparing Michaël’s chariot for his entrance into our civilization. [her emphasis added]"

This final quote is from Rudolf Steiner's The Younger Generation.


This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!

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2 comments:

Catherine said...

Thank you :)

May 25, 2017 at 7:58 PM
Renee said...

No problem! :-)

I'm doing the four suggested readings for 7th grade Human Physiology right now, actually, so that I can actually experience the difference it makes in my lesson planning. It's perfect, actually, because I did this block last year without much Waldorf-related prep time and so I just defaulted to using the Montessori materials. I am interested in how I will approach it differently this year, by taking the time to do this reading and starting my planning from more of an anthroposophical background.

June 2, 2017 at 12:21 AM

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